Weekend Gaming: Anniversary Edition

My wife and I celebrated our anniversary over the weekend, and our friends were in town for the occasion.  On Friday, Nick, Laura, Gina, and I played a game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig.  It was a tight game throughout, with plenty of competition for the bonus card and basement rooms that were fairly plentiful.  I had managed to take a commanding lead on the first goal for most square footage of activity rooms.  I was was also in the running for most basement rooms, but Laura overtook me late in the game.  The surprising one for me was the number of external exits that I wasn’t really focusing on.  My bonus cards fit well with my game plan and ended up leading to a victory.

On Saturday, the four of us started the evening with Flash Point: Fire Rescue using the expansion laboratory board.  Things started off well, clearing out a couple hazmat items and rescuing one victim.  Then things devolved quickly.  We weren’t able to extinguish the fire on the upper level quickly enough and it started a series of explosions, quickly reducing the structural integrity of the building to the point of collapse.

Joe joined us at that point for The Manhattan Project.  I had decided to use espionage as much as possible, mostly focusing on Joe’s strong mines.  I had picked up a nice university that provided either engineers or scientists, so I quickly expanded my workforce and picked up some decent uranium bombs.  Joe was expanding his airforce and bombed my buildings, but not before I was able to quickly build and load a small bomb.  I was still spying regularly, though, and was able to get close to building the bomb I needed to win.  Joe sensed I was close and bombed everyone’s uranium plants, making it difficult for me to finish.  He didn’t count on me having a backup bomb that I was able to build and then load into a hastily built bomber to grab the win.  Laura revealed her hand and was only about one turn away from building two bombs and taking the victory as well.

We finished the night with Hawaii.  After teaching Nick and Laura we were off and running.  Joe started off by buying the boat and surfer bonus point god, but I got to the actual boats first, buying two.  Gina grabbed a spear hut, while Laura focused on fruit.  Nick was running all over the island building small villages for his kahunas.  With my boats and a few extra fruit and foot resources, I was able to concentrate primarily on visiting the islands.  I did get the god that increased the end of round bonuses along with a couple surfers, so I was pulling in points that way as well.  The final scores were fairly close between Gina and I, but my large village provided more bonus points to hold the lead.  Joe pulled in second.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Dominion, Lancaster, and Manhattan Project

Kevin and Joe joined Gina and I for games Saturday.  Gina was busy, so the rest of us started things off with a game of Dominion.  Joe got to buying Colonies early using his Gold and Banks, but cooled off a bit as Kevin started getting his money flowing.  I had been buying Cities and Trade Routes early, but I was having difficulty getting my engine going.  Once a pile was emptied, though, my cities took off and propelled me through my deck repeatedly.  I was able to buy multiple Colonies and Provinces at a time and ended the game with a dominant 86 points.

Gina joined us then for Lancaster.  I decided to ignore my castle and focused on fighting in the wars again France and upgrading my knights.  Kevin and Gina had much more upgraded castles, while Joe had a bunch of low level knights early.  They all seemed to be working together better and were rewarded with Laws that benefit them much more than me.

By the end, though, I was able to leverage my high level knights to score quite a few points in the battles and took the 6 point county.  I also was rewarded for having one of each level knight, thanks to some well timed laws and help from Kevin.  With the strongest army, I was able to overtake Joe for the lead and Kevin wound up taking second.

Gina headed to bed, while Joe and Kevin stuck around for a game of The Manhattan Project.  I had intended to focus on Uranium bombs, but when a bunch of Plutonium reactors and nice bombs were available, I had to switch plans.  I bought a couple nice Universities, paying $14 for the one that provided three scientists for one.  I also had the only efficient source of yellow cake – two engineers for four cake.  There was some espionage late, but not enough to really slow me down once I had built and tested a small bomb and then finished with two larger ones to get the 60 points needed.  Kevin wasn’t far behind with Joe bringing up the rear.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: The Manhattan Project and More

Louis, Kevin, Joe, Gina, and I started off our Saturday evening with a game of The Manhattan Project.  Louis was performing air strikes often, causing issues for Gina, Joe and Kevin primarily.  I had picked up a factory to product money and fighters early, so I was well protected from the strikes.

I wasn’t protected from spies, though, and Kevin took advantage.  I had a nice system going, collecting plutonium, but I didn’t have quite enough bombs.  Joe had tied up the bomb design spot, and I had to plan carefully to avoid Kevin’s spies.  I came close with 38 points, but Kevin was able to get the last bomb build and loaded, taking the first game of the night.

Gina headed to bed, and the rest of us dove into a game of Glen More.  I started off heavily into the whiskey.  I was able to get the early jump and picked up the maximum bonus every round.  After that, though, I some what stalled, while Kevin was training Chieftans and selling to the annual fair.  Louis had also found a fair and a couple taverns to get points.  What saved it for me, though, was that I was able to grab the tile that gave bonuses for yellow tiles and then a bridge.  I was able to use the bridge twice and the bonus points pushed me to 60 points and the victory.

Kevin and Joe stuck around for one last game of Navegador.  Kevin and I both started off looking for colonies; he was grabbing gold, and I, sugar.  Joe started grabbing up factories and privileges for just about everything.  I did score the privilege for colonies, and just went heavily into buying up colonies.  I also started buying shipyards, while Kevin switched gears to buy factories and churches.

Joe and I were both sailing together towards Nagasaki, and I was able to get there first.  He had already bought a couple shipyards before I could and I was only able to get one privilege for shipyards.  Kevin got full points for churches and nearly full points for his markets, and ended up beating me by about 15 points.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Nukes!

Joe, Kevin and Louis joined us for games on Saturday and we kicked things off with CO2.  We played things pretty cleanly this time, and the game started off with a relatively low CO2 level.  We quickly built three power plants in Europe, swapping control three times in one turn.  I had used the project that Kevin installed and would continue to do so more throughout the night.  I was trying to build one of each different type of plant for my corporate goal.  In turn three, we were getting pretty close to going over the limit, so Joe convinced me to install a bio-diesel project so he could construct it to bring the CO2 levels down.

I had managed to build bio-diesel, solar and recycling plants, but forestry and nuclear had eluded me.  I had the expertise for nuclear, but Joe and I were playing chicken as to who would install the first project.  No one else wanted to help, so neither of us managed to build the nuclear plant needed for the UN goals.  Instead, I built another plant in Europe using Kevin’s project.  This gave me control, and access to a bunch of carbon credits.  I also managed to bump the price of CEPs up a notch.  This was the deciding factor, as Gina and I both finished at 91 points with the help of selling our credits, beating Joe by two points.  I had constructed the most power plants, giving me the tie-breaker.

Gina headed to bed, and Louis took off, so Joe, Kevin and I switched to the other side of the energy spectrum with The Manhattan Project.  Joe immediately went for the espionage action, forcing Kevin and I to work to keep him out.  We were constantly buying buildings just to have something to use without Joe’s influence.  I had picked up a bunch of factories, while Kevin had all the mines.  I was able to slow Joe down a little with a bombing run to take out his University.

I had a decent selection of Plutonium bombs available, and managed to get to 43 points, but Kevin was already at 38 with a mix of Uranium and Plutonium.  Joe tried to slow Kevin down to give himself a chance, but it wasn’t enough.  Kevin had everything he needed, including a 22 point bomb.  He hit the 60 point limit one turn before I would have been able to complete my last bomb.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Village and More

With Gina sitting the night out, and Phil and Louis out of town, it was up to Kevin, Joe and I to play games Saturday.  We kicked things off with a quick game of Village.  I decided to go straight for the market, spending my time in the crafting area building stuff to sell.  Joe was working in the Council House and Kevin was travelling.  I spent a lot of time, and ended up with five family members in the book, and one in the  unmarked graves.  This was all done in the crafting house and I was able to pick up 46 points worth of sales.  Joe tried to jump in and interrupt my game, but I had things timed well and with Kevin going first most of the game I was always able to score the high point sales before Joe could.  I ended up winning with 62.

Next up was The Manhattan Project.  There were a ton of universities available in the market, so extra workers weren’t much of a problem.  Yellow cake was tougher to get, though, with Joe and I having the best sources.  There was a fair bit of espionage because of that.  The bombs available early, were mostly plutonium, but I did get my hands on the two low point uranium bombs and was able to build and load them rather early.  Joe had a medium plutonium bomb and Kevin had tested a bomb by this point.  I was setting up for another small bomb and managed to build that about the time Kevin had built his big plutonium bomb.  I was 13 points away, and Kevin was pretty well setup to get his second big bomb built to win on his next action, but he had to recall first.  When he recalled, I was able to use my spy to get into his plutonium plant to get the four that I needed to build and subsequently load a bomb for 14 points and the victory.

We followed that with Spyrium.  I was pushing for residences and the blue tokens early, but I didn’t have much going in my tableau.  Kevin was mining a bunch, wasn’t scoring many points, while Joe was setup with factories.  Eventually I was able to get a bunch of points with a factory and university.  It wasn’t quite enough, though.  Kevin had started scoring points with a factory, and while I managed to grab a nice mansion in the last round, I still ended up a point shy of Kevin at the end.

We finished the night with Eminent Domain.  We were all pushing for colonies, so grabbing planets was critical.  I surveyed early and often, which provided two prestige planets and two planets with colonize bonuses.  I was also able to score a few nice research cards with the help of Joe’s research actions.  Kevin was trying to get a production and trading engine going, but the research and colonize cards were disappearing too quickly.  Joe had a bunch of planets as well, but hadn’t been able to colonize them.  I won the game with a score of 31.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Family Clash

Gina was out for a “girl’s night” Friday, so Joe and Louis joined me for a games.  We started things off with Clash of Cultures.  No one was being terribly militaristic, so we were pretty much free to develop as we wanted.  My starting objective was to get all four Economics advances, so I pushed for taxation quickly.  I had a bunch of small settlements in a clump while I also developed towards Nationalism to get mood tokens for building armies.  This didn’t quite work as I planned, and I ended up with a bigger focus in the Education group.  Louis was nearly completely walled off with water, but started pushing armies toward Joe, defeating barbarians along the way.  Joe and I both managed to build Wonders, but it was Louis who ended up winning.  He had a ton of medium sized cities, a bunch of advances to go along with a full set of completed objectives.

Louis had to take off, so Joe and I broke out The Manhattan Project.  Joe decided to airstrike my stuff early and often, so I countered by spying heavily.  I rarely allowed him access to his buildings and he had the best access to the limited selection of mines.  I was able to get two uranium bombs with an early bomb design, and then built one quickly.  By then, things were shaping up well for my game, while Joe was just starting to get his plutonium production rolling.  Joe was able to get a small bomb built and then tested, and finished building his second a few turns after I had my second.  By then, though, I had another uranium bomb in the works and Joe couldn’t slow me enough.  I was able to build it and then it just took another couple turns to gather the resources to load it for the last five points and the win.

Gina was home by then, so we played a quick game of Dominion with no expansions.  When I bought a Chapel early, they knew what I was up to, and tried to quickly end the game.  I was able to get my engine rolling, though, with Villages, Markets, a Council Room and a couple gold.  By then I was able to play the entirety of my minuscule deck for 11 coin each turn and proceeded to pick up a Province and Cellar each turn.  The Cellars kept things working smoothly, and I was able to quickly rack up the Providences.  Even with that, things were close.  Joe and Gina had an early start, buying Duchies and Provinces along with me.  I did end up winning, with 36, beating their 34 and 33.

Then Saturday night, Joe and Phil joined us for another game of Clash of Cultures.  Again it was a fairly peaceful game.  I went straight for Economic Liberty and a size 5 city.  Joe was headed for a heavily Trade focused strategy with boating, and Phil was pushing for Taxation.  Gina was a little less focused, but did build a bunch of temples and Theocracy advances.  Phil and Gina switched gears part way and started building armies to go after Joe for some reason.  I had built some fortresses to dissuade Gina from attacking me, and it seemed to work.  Joe ended up with a single city, but was still able to pull in a ton of resources with Trade Routes and Cartography.  He somehow managed to build three wonders in his single city before we realized that wasn’t legal by the rules.  While this was going on, I had two wonders built in my two major cities, with enough armies to defend them for once.  Phil ended the game on my doorstep, but decided against trying for the attack.  The win was mine, with a solid 46 points.

The final game of the weekend was Dixit with my family after an early Thanksgiving’s day celebration.  I had been trying to get them to play for ages, and we finally had the chance.  Everyone loved it, and my mother already is asking for more new picture cards.

Until next time, happy gaming!

Weekend Gaming: Halloween Party

This weekend, Nick and Laura were in town visiting for our annual Halloween Party.  Friday night we played Dominion, The Manhattan Project and Lords of Waterdeep with them.

Dominion was fun to get to the table again.  I thought I had a plan for the random set of cards, but it never really worked out.  I ended up getting beat badly.

I redeemed myself in The Manhattan Project, though.  I was able to grab two Universities early, and then set myself up for some nice Plutonium gains.  After I had tested one bomb and built a second, Nick and Laura tried to bomb me into submission, but didn’t do quite enough to stop my engine.  I grabbed the last Plutonium needed and finished off my third bomb for the win.

We finished the night with Lords of Waterdeep.  I was doing well early, completing a couple big Commerce quests.  I thought I had things locked up, until Laura hit me with a mandatory quest slowing me down just enough.  Nick managed to pick up just enough to finally complete his 25 point quest, launching him into the lead at the end.

 

Then, Saturday night the real festivities took place.  Things were so busy, I completely forgot to get any pictures.  Joe, Jaime, Ryan, Laurel, and Louis all joined us and we started things off with The Restance with Gina, Nick, Ryan, Laurel, Louis and I.  Nick and I were spies and we played it pretty much perfectly.  Nick lulled them in with the first quest, and then after plenty of deliberation about who the spies were, I was able to finish the Resistance off in the fifth mission.  The  second game added Laura and Joe to the mix.  Laura, Joe and I were the spies and we screwed up royally, with all three of us selected for the third mission and contributing “Falied” cards.  The Resistance knew what was up at that point, and the spies couldn’t recover.

We followed that up with Dixit.  Since we had so many people, we ended up playing as teams.  I was paired with Ryan, and it was obvious from the start that we were terrible storytellers.  Luckily we were decent at guessing the right picture and submitting pictures that others thought was the right one.  We managed to stay competitive, but finished a couple points short, losing to the team of Joe and Laura.

Ryan and Laurel took off at that point, so the rest of us played Shadows over Camelot.  I was doubting Joe’s loyalty early, while the deck was coming up with a ton of Excalibur cards, failing that quest quickly.  Gina and I made a lat of headway towards the Holy Grail, while Nick went out to win glory in a tournament bout.  Louis and Joe were also helping by beating up on some Saxons.  Jaime had planned to help with Excalibur, but didn’t get there in time and instead was needed to use her ability to defeat siege engines.  Things were looking pretty good for us, though the siege engines were piling up.  No one was an obvious traitor, though Joe was a favorite target of suspicion.  After whittling down the number of siege engines and finishing the Grail quest, we were only two swords away from winning.  Gina completed a tournament bout, and the Lancelot quest failed, providing us the last two swords and the victory for everyone., as there were no traitors.

Joe and Jaime had to go and Gina was tired, so Nick, Laura, Louis and I finished the night of with Dominion.  It ended up being a very expensive, but money heavy game.  We had to get to six coin to really get things rolling.  Laura and Louis had trouble, while I was able to work a Loan and Moneylender into Hoards and eventually a Bank.  Once I was able to rid myself of some copper, I was able to get into the Grand Markets and then things really took off.  Nick was doing well too with a bigger focus on Platinum.  We were matching each other pretty evenly with Provinces and Colonies, but I had the last action, picking up a Province and the last Estate.  I took the victory by about 8 points over Nick.

Until next time, happy gaming!

 

Weekend Gaming: New Games Galore

Thanks to winning our Fantasy Baseball league at work, I decided to pick up a few new games that I had been eyeing for a while.  The Manhattan Project, Spyrium, Love Letter and Clash of Cultures were delivered on Friday.   After joyfully punching out all the pieces and organizing them, Gina and I went about learning a few Friday night.

There wasn’t a whole lot of strategy to write about, since we were both feeling our way through the new games.  Spyrium was first, which I managed to win by using some Factories to convert the spyrium into points.  Love Letter filled the space between and Gina managed to take that one mainly with some well played Knights.

The Manhattan Project finished the night.  I managed to score a nice uranium bomb, but then I slowed down significantly.  Uranium bombs weren’t showing up in the market, and I had no way of producing plutonium.  Gina had a mine and plutonium plant that were very strong, so she was working them.  I managed to sneak a spy into her buildings a few times to get at least some plutonium.  Eventually I was able to score a couple more bombs, but when I tried to load them to score the last few points, I was reminded that I needed a bomber to complete the load.  Gina managed to build her last bomb on the turn, and scored the winning points.

 

On Saturday, Louis, Joe and Kevin joined us, and I we taught them The Manhattan Project and Spyrium.  In The Manhattan Project, I ended up with nearly the exact same plutonium engine that Gina had used the night before, but I stalled for a few turns when I couldn’t get the engineers needed to work my mine.  Joe had the early lead with a uranium bomb, while Kevin was building his air strike capability, but only attacked Joe and I.  That one damage was enough to slow me down, though.

It was close in the end, with both Kevin and Joe positioning for their final bomb.  Joe had the advantage in timing; building and loading the last bomb he needed to win.

 

We finished the night with Spyrium.  Joe jump out to an early lead by building up his residence value and then turning them into points.  Kevin had a nice factory engine turning spyrium into points, while Louis had the techniques that reduced the cost to activate cards and build buildings.  He was using universities for points and building a bunch.

I had grabbed the techniques that provided bonus points for money and spyrium, so I started gathering those up as often as I could.  The issue with that, however, was that I forgot that they maxed out at seven points.  I wasted a few actions grabbing money that I wouldn’t be able to use.  I did realize this before the end of the game, and i was able to make up some time using a big factory twice (due to an event) for 30 points, but it wasn’t enough.

I couldn’t catch Kevin and Joe, and their lack of end game bonuses meant that Louis with all of his buildings came out the winner.

 

We still have one more game to learn, but that will have to wait until another night.

Until next time, happy gaming!